HMCTS is undergoing a six-year £1bn reform programme and is redesigning the way courts and tribunals services are provided. A big part of this is moving suitable services online and reducing the high volumes of paper which go through our systems. Online services are often quicker, more accurate, easier to track, can be used at any time or any place where you have a computer, tablet or mobile phone.

Assisted Digital: Support is just a phone call away

While digital services will not be mandated (and paper channels will continue) we want to make sure that people can access them - and most importantly get the benefits from them – even if they are not very confident or experienced going online and using websites.

We understand that a one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate for either our services or the people that use them. So, we’ll be providing different ways for people to get support in ways that are suitable for them.

How will our Assisted Digital support be delivered?

In the first instance, support will be provided over the phone or in person, in face-to-face meetings at a network of support centres across the country. Telephone support is being delivered by HMCTS teams and face-to-face support is being delivered through our partnership with Good Things Foundation and their network of centres.

Understanding what support is needed

I am part of a multi-disciplinary team working across a number of digital projects. My team is here to ensure that we research, test and design the right Assisted Digital support for the people who need it and the services that they need to access. To do this we work with people who really use the system – members of the public as well as professionals and charities who represent groups of people with specific needs – who can tell us about what it’s like to use our online services, the problems they encounter and how we could make it easier for them.
We spend lots of time with those who are less confident or who do not yet have the skills to go digital, to ensure we are building the right support services to meet their needs.

Initial user research and focus group results

We enlisted the help of Revolving Doors Agency, to help us connect with people who are likely to need support (telephone and face-to-face) to access digital services.

We ran lots of focus groups with people with low digital literacy and who also had experience of the justice system. Seventy-eight people participated over a period of six months, providing valuable insight into the barriers people sometimes experience when accessing digital services.

We spoke with a variety of people, from those with experience of repeat contact with the criminal justice system, victims, those for whom English is their second language (including British Sign Language), Welsh language speakers, people with disabilities and older people.

Each participant brought a wealth of real life experience and we used this research as a starting point to develop our Assisted Digital support model: service blueprints (plans for providing support); user journeys (the way that people access our services and look for help); and user personas (descriptions of the type of people that use our services and would like support).

Testing with real service users

We started testing our designs with people with low digital skills who were also real users of the online civil money claims and divorce services.

We conducted the user research in the actual centres where face-to-face support will be delivered, rather than in traditional research labs, because we wanted the experience to be as close to reality as possible.

It was also important to test the entire journey, from users finding out about the support available to them, right through to completion of the face-to-face Assisted Digital appointment. Over two days we tested awareness of the support available, the experience of contacting HMCTS, and face-to-face Assisted Digital appointments in the online centres.

Data collection was followed by analysis and feedback sessions, during which time we used the findings to refine our designs and operational processes. The findings confirmed that, unlike us, users do not see or understand the divide between online services and support to access them - they just want access to the most appropriate channel for them, depending on their circumstance and individual needs.

Responding to feedback

The research and testing to date is part of our comprehensive approach to ensuring accessibility is maintained as we reform HMCTS services. We will continue to work closely with real end users of the courts and tribunals through user research, testing and via the HMCTS Equality and Inclusion Engagement Group.

Where are we now?

We have successfully launched telephone and face-to-face support for our civil money claims and divorce services.

To access Assisted Digital support please call 0300 303 0642 for divorce or 0300 123 7050 for civil money claims. Lines are open Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm. Assistance can be given over the phone or HMCTS teams can arrange a face-to-face appointment at a participating Good Things Foundation online centre. Please note that the Assisted Digital service does not provide legal advice.